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Lexicon Atomic Energy Board _____________________________________________________ In response to a request in 1944 for accurate forecasts on the uranium potential of South Africa, the Uranium Committee first met in 1945 under the chairmanship of Dr Basil Schonland. In 1948 the South African Atomic Energy Board (AEB) was established by an Act of Parliament to exercise control over the production of, and trade in, uranium. This Act was amended in 1959 to make provision for research, development and utilisation of nuclear technology. In 1970, the Uranium Enrichment Corporation (UCOR) was established, and a large program of uranium conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication was initiated in the 1970s. In 1985, together with the Nuclear Development Corporation (NUCOR), UCOR was incorporated into the Atomic Energy Corporation (the AEC, formerly the AEB). The primary mandate of the AEC (and its former subsidiary companies) in the 1970s and 1980s was to develop an indigenous nuclear fuel cycle for powering nuclear power plants and for providing material for nuclear weapons.